Scripture reading: John 17:1-11.

Sermon text: John 17:12-26.

St. Stephen the Martyr, the first Christian killed for his faith. St. James the Greater, the first apostle killed for his faith. St. Peter, who died under Nero when the Romans crucified him upside down. St. Paul, who died under Nero when the Romans beheaded him.

The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Today’s chapter in the Gospel of St. John records the longest prayer we have by the “founder and perfecter of our faith.” In this prayer, Jesus prayed for both the disciples listening to this prayer and for those who would believe in His name because of their witness in the future.

Jesus asked that God would “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” Jesus would receive His glorification, but only after His crucifixion and death. Through His resurrection, Jesus would bring “eternal life to all whom” God had “given him.” This eternal life would come to everyone who believed in Him: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

Jesus had “manifested” God’s name in His life. Jesus’ ministry constantly pointed people to His Father. Everything Jesus taught reminded people of the Father’s love for them. The Jews especially heard Jesus speak of the Father, especially in the Temple. Jesus’ entire live revolved around His relationship with His Father. After His resurrection and ascension, the task of pointing people to the Father passed onto those for whom He prayed, His disciples.

I love this chapter. I’d go so far as to say that John chapter 17 ranks as my favorite chapter in Scripture, primarily because of the prayer Jesus lifts for His disciples and for us as well.

Jesus prayed that His disciples “would be one.” Jesus knew the disciples would face the temptations to fight over supremacy of the group as they had done almost since the first day He called them to discipleship. Jesus knew the disciples would also face the temptation of separating over little disagreements in doctrine and practice. Jesus also knew the disciples would have to maintain their unity over the distances of the Roman Empire and beyond as the gospel spread around the world. Jesus prayed for the disciples to remain in unity with one another in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus prayed also for the unity of those who would succeed the disciples. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Today’s baptism and Holy Communion reminds us of the reality of this unity for which Jesus prayed. Today, we witnessed 2 new believers become part of the catholic Church and, specifically, New Hope’s congregation.

First, you have joined New Hope Baptist Church in Romulus. Your ancestors worshiped in this church and helped its ministries. You have inherited the results of their faith in this congregation. We pledge to help you grow in your faith and help you learn how to tell others of the faith you now possess and claim.  We also look forward to the ways you will contribute to the ministries of this congregation as we reach our community and families with the gospel of Jesus.

You have also joined a Body that has existed since the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost as recorded in the book of Acts. Although the first believers were all Jews, the Church has grown across the globe to include believers in both space and time. The Church crosses all the barriers of humanity, including race, language, and nationality. This week, the Roman Catholic Church celebrated World Youth Day in Madrid. Pope Benedict XVI joined over 1.5 million Catholic youth from around the world to celebrate their faith in Christ and membership in the Church. Their faith in Jesus connects them with us here in Romulus today.

The Church whose unity we celebrate today stretches back to the first believers through baptism, but it also predates the Church in faith. Every believer in Jesus becomes, according to St. Paul, a “child of Abraham” in faith (Galatians 3:29). C.S. Lewis reminded us of a wonderful truth in The Screwtape Letters, writing of the Church as “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.” Lewis wrote that to the demons, this is “a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy.” The baptism we celebrate today reminds us that while the Church appears fragmented to the world, we remain united in Christ.

While the Roman Catholic Church celebrated World Youth Day, Protestants celebrated the life of another member of the Church who gave his life for his faith. On 20 August 1965, Episcopal seminarian Jonathan Myrick Daniels was killed in Selma during a civil rights protest. When a white supremacist pointed a shotgun at a black teenager, Daniels pushed her aside and took the shotgun blast, dying instantly in the process.

In the weeks before he died, Daniels wrote:

1. I lost fear in the black belt when I began to know in my bones and sinews that I had been truly baptized into the Lord's death and Resurrection, that in the only sense that really matters I am already dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God. I began to lose self-righteousness when I discovered the extent to which my behavior was motivated by worldly desires and by the self-seeking messianism of Yankee deliverance! The point is simply, of course, that one's motives are usually mixed, and one had better know it.
   

2. 
   

3. As [we] said the daily offices day by day, we became more and more aware of the living reality of the invisible "communion of saints"--of the beloved community in Cambridge who were saying the offices too, of the ones gathered around a near-distant throne in heaven--who blend with theirs our faltering songs of prayer and praise. With them, with black men and white men, with all of life, in Him Whose Name is above all the names that the races and nations shout, whose Name is Itself the Song Which fulfills and "ends" all songs, we are indelibly, unspeakably ONE (“Jonathan Myrick Daniels,” http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/08/14b.html).
   

Jesus prayed for our unity, and today, we unite in celebration around the Table of Holy Communion. Jesus desired our unity, and today, we unite in our common faith. Today, we fulfill the desire of Our Lord. If you wish to unite with us, believe in Jesus, confessing Him as Lord and believing in His resurrection. You, too, can join a part of the Body of Christ, the eternal Communion of Saints.